FILE- This file photo taken April 12, 2005 shows the oil platform Gilda is seen in federal waters in the Santa Barbara Channel off Ventura, Calif. Several California lawmakers have sent a letter to the federal government asking for an investigation into hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, off the California coast.(AP Photo/The Santa Barbara News-Press, Steve Malone, file)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A group of state lawmakers has asked the federal government to investigate hydraulic fracturing off the California coast where new oil leases have been banned since a disastrous oil spill in 1969.

Fracking has occurred in the Santa Barbara Channel at least 12 times since the late 1990s, and regulators earlier this year approved a new project, according to a recent report by The Associated Press, which obtained well permits and internal emails through the Freedom of Information Act.